Pilgrim's Progress – Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK

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  • Day 6: Champdieu to Marols (31km) Thriving in adversity

    Sweet are the uses of adversity,Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;And this our life, exempt from public haunt,Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones, and good in everything. William Shakespeare – As You Like It. The weather forecast…

  • Day 5: Bully to Champdieu (46.5km) Every cloud has a silver lining

    Water,water every where,       Nor any a drop to drink The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Simon Taylor Coleridge Today’s challenge was to see if I could walk the best part of 30 miles in pouring rain, largely on tarmac roads without eating anything for 24 hours. Well I succeeded,…

  • Day 4: Noailly to Bully (43.5km) In praise of communal gites.

    C’est dans les utopies d’aujourd’hui que sont les solutions de demain Pierre Rabhi When I peeked out of the window at 6am, things looked pretty gloomy. Michael, whom I’d met in Cluny, and Renaud, had both warned me that the weather was due to deteriorate during the week. When I…

  • Day 3: col de la Bûche to Noailly (35 km) A stroll in the sun

    It happens sometimes that we meet people – even perfect strangers – who interest us at first glance, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, before a word has been spoken. Fyodr Dostoyevsky – Crime and Punishment Today would have been a fairly unremarkable days walk were it not for the remarkable people…

  • Day 2: St Jacques-des-Ârret to col de la Bûche (43km) A marathon day.

    Life is a marathon, not a sprint and in the end the race is only against yourself. It is only when you walk 43km (or 26 miles) that you realise what a superhuman effort running a marathon entails. I ran the London Marathon nearly 20 years ago in 2005. It…

  • Day 1: Cluny to St Jacques-des-Ârret (36km) In the company of pilgrims

    Penicillin cures, but wine makes people happy. Alexander Fleming One of the great pleasures of walking the pilgrim routes of Europe is the chance encounters with other pilgrims and pilgrim host families. Before you set out, you can never be entirely sure whom you’ll meet but the chances are that…

  • From Cluny to Avignon – 750km in the footsteps of monks, pilgrims and popes.

    Sur le pont d’Avignon,On y danse, on y danse,Sur le pont d’Avignon,On y danse tous en rond. Traditional French children’s song Ready to set off on another pilgrimage across France Spring has arrived (somewhat soggily and belatedly) in the south west of France. Training, in the guise of twice daily…

  • LEJOG – planning the route

    It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. George Mallory Deciding to walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats is simple. Working out how to do it, is a bit more difficult. There is probably an optimal LEJOG equation involving the following variables: 1) D = days/ time available 2)…

  • Life begins at 60 – LEJOG 2024

    If one keeps on walking, everything will be alright. Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard When you turn 60 (in my case on 7 Nov 2023, ie today!) you are allowed a day of unashamed self indulgence! Getting up late; having a lunch time drink; not doing any gardening and dreaming up…

  • The way of Arles – Via Tolosana – GR653

    I was nineteen years old, still soft at the edges, but with a confident belief in good fortune. I carried a small rolled-up tent, a violin in a blanket, a change of clothes, a tin of treacle biscuits, and some cheese As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning – Laurie…

  • Day 1: Arles to Vauvert (40 km) Sharing the company of strangers.

    We are all pilgrims in search of the unknown. Paul Coelho The train journey from Montauban to Arles ( my point of departurr for Chemin d’Arles) didn’y get off to the best of starts. It was only when the doors closed of the train which pulled out of platform 1…

  • Day 2: Vauvert to St Christol (26km) Dare to dream

    Le plus grand échec est de ne pas avoir le courage d’oser. L’abbé Pierre As I was on the point of leaving Bea’s Gite, I couldn’t help noticing the blackboard prominently positioned in the corridor. Guests were welcomed with the quote – dare to dream! Don’t live your life with…